The 16-year-old scored nine goals for his undefeated NSW side at the School Sports National Tournament at Bunbury in Western Australia last week.

NSW defeated Victoria 7-3 in the final, finishing with 54 goals with only 12 against them.

Stuart was the second highest scorer for the tournament and after setting up NSW’s first goal in the final he had to sit out the rest of the game after receiving a broken nose in the sixth minute.

It has been a very successful 12 months for Stuart who has been selected in the Under 15 NSW, Under 16 NSW Indoor, Under 18 NSW City, Under 18 ACT, and NSW Combined High Schools teams.

Stuart has been a South West Sydney Academy athlete for two years. Fellow SWSAS athlete, Nicole King, also made the Australian All Schools girl’s hockey team.

Stuart would like to thank SWSAS coaches Andrew Woolner, Des White and Wayne Southwell for their specialized training, expertise and support and his parents for getting him to all the training, games and paying for all his trips.

Stuart will be travelling with the team to South Africa next July.

Footnote: Stuart is the son of Viv and George Shepherd